Best of 2008

Anne Briggs-Anne Briggs Stunning first album by British folksinger Briggs, who is like PJ Harvey doing ancient folk ballads

The Magnetic Fields-Distortion: More great songwriting from Stephen Merritt, and I especially like the ones the girl sings

The Raveonettes-Lust Lust Lust They borrow liberally from J&M Chain, but then who doesnâ€™t? Feedbacking guitar, spooky vibe, overall sexy and mysterious feel

Rosie Flores-Rosie Flores â€œRockabilly Fillyâ€ makes her debut in the late â€˜80s, one of the best albums of its kind, ever. When Rosie tells her man â€œGod may forgive you, but I wonâ€™t,â€ she means it.

Rodriguez-Cold Fact Sixto Rodriguez is like a Hispanic Lou Reed. Stone-cold lost classic from â€™71 here

The Grip Weeds- Infinite Soul: The Best Of Excellent power pop from New Jersey. The Kinks meet Cheap Trick meet The Posies

Matthew Sweet-Sunshine Lies Speaking of power pop . . . many of the tracks just lie there, but on the best few he revisits his â€œGirlfriendâ€ peak

Bobbie Gentry-Ode to Billie Joe/Touch â€˜Em With Love 2-for-1 Gentry is an enigmatic character who has not performed or given interviews for ages. This set collects her startling debut with her best album

Beach House-Devotion Baltimoreâ€™s answer to Opal/Mazzy Star improves upon their impressive first album

The Searchers-Loveâ€™s Melody The Searchers have never really gotten the credit they deserve for being at the forefront of mid-â€˜60s jangle, and here, in â€™81, they showed they could handle power pop just as masterfully; they covered Big Star years before the rest of the world caught up

Dennis Wilson-Pacific Ocean Blue The truth is that the effort was more than the end product here, as Dennis just really wasnâ€™t a good singer and could never match brother Brian (who can?) in songwriting and arranging; still, thereâ€™s some movingly moody and evocative stuff here, done by a troubled soul who was on the way down

N.E.R.D.-Seeing Sounds On the first listen I was dancing around the house and raving to friends that it was the record of the year. On future listens I heard the lyrics more closely and thought, arenâ€™t these guys out of junior high yet? I would love to hear it as all instrumentals.

Sean Oâ€™Hagan-Musical Paintings Part of a complicated and interesting collaboration the High Llamasâ€™ main main has done with a Belgian visual artist; as music it just sounds like really good High Llamas instrumentals

Jorge Ben-Jorge Ben Tropicalista heavy and guitar wizard at his best, in 1969Â

The Chevelles-Barbarella Girl God (Best Of) The Ramones from Down Under, with a little more pop sensibility

Flamin Groovies-This Band is Red Hot: 1969-79 The Groovies recorded two of the most memorable tracks in pop/rock history- â€œTeenage Headâ€ and â€œShake Some Action.â€ As this comp. proves, they did a whole lot more, as well. Swampy, greasy rock and roll with a boogie kick.

Various-Thank You Friends: The Ardent Records Story Eye-opening 2-CD collection shows that Alex Chilton and Big Star werenâ€™t the only band doing interesting stuff around Memphis in the â€˜70â€™s

Colin Blunstone-Ennismore/Journey Doesnâ€™t match up to Blunstoneâ€™s post-Zombies masterpiece One Year, but still two solid records that are better than Argent

T. Rex-The Best of the BBC Recordings Marc and friends doing their thing on John Peelâ€™s and Bob Harrisâ€™s radio shows during their Electric Warrior-era heyday

Various Artists-Halloween a Go-Go I generally loathe holiday-themed compilations, but Little Steven and Wicked Cool did one that includes Roky Erickson, The Stems, Howlinâ€™ Wolf, and a Tegan and Sara track that has become a household favorite here on Watts

The Notwist-The Devil, You + Me Boards of Canada if they incorporated more melody into their noises

R.E.M.-Murmur (Expanded Edition) The â€™83 show on disc 2 finds them in their best form and is a reminder of what all the hoopla was about to begin with

Neil Young-Canterbury House 1968 Neil doing an intimate show playing acoustic versions of Buffalo Springfield favorites, as well as stuff that would appear on his underrated solo debut, etc.

Reuben Wilson and The Cost of Living-Got to Get Your Own B-3 master and jazz hipster Wilson does cool breeze soul

The B-52s-Funplex I have to disagree with all the music writers who have trashed this in print. I keep cueing up â€œHot Cornerâ€ and â€œDeviant Ingredientâ€ when Iâ€™ve had a couple rounds and feel like moving around in the music room.